Pros react to Demian Maia’s defeat of Jorge Masvidal

Last night, on the main card of a stacked UFC 211, Jorge Masvidal met Demian Maia in what appeared to be a welterweight number one contender fight.

In advance of this fight, Masvidal exuded confidence. He also stepped onto the canvas as a slight betting favorite. In the end, however, the Cuban-American became the latest victim of Maia’s incredible grappling skill. Though he managed to avoid the submission, he succumbed to four takedown attempts and gave up more than eight minutes of control time on the mat, ultimately losing by split decision as a result.

With this big UFC 211 win, Maia appears to have locked up his long awaited shot at the UFC welterweight title, which is currently owned by Tyron Woodley. Though nothing is official just yet, the pair could well fight in the next few months.

In victory, Demian Maia moves onto an incredible, seven fight win streak. This streak is composed of a pair of decision wins over Alexander Yakovlev and Ryan LaFlare, a submission win over Neil Magny, a decision win over Gunnar Nelson, back-to-back submissions of Matt Brown and Carlos Condit, and now, a decision win over Masvidal. His only losses as a welterweight have come against Rory MacDonald and Jake Shields. The 39 year old Brazilian talent is now an impressive 25-6 overall.

Masvidal, meanwhile, has a three-fight streak snapped by this loss. In his last three bouts, the fan favorite defeated Ross Pearson by decision, and picked up a pair of TKOs over Jake Ellenberger and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. His overall record now stands at 32-11 in sum.

What did you think of Demian Maia’s decision win over Jorge Masvidal? Were you surprised that one of the three cage-side judges scored the fight for the American? Make your opinions heard in the comments section!